South East Asia travel advice

Dave Tucker, from our supplier The Beyond Tourism Co., shares his Cambodia travel advice on how best to visit Angkor Wat: “Ask your operator how they will do sunrise at Angkor Wat differently. Everyone goes for dawn, so sometimes it’s not quite the special, serene experience you’re expecting. For example, we approach through the back gate, or you can go a bit later when the tour groups have left. Everyone wants to see the famous sunrise over the towers of Angkor Wat so there can be a lot of other people trying to do it at the same time.”

Lesley Schofield, from our supplier All Points East, shares her advice on combining Indochina countries: "Vietnam combines fantastically with other countries. Cambodia is just a short hop up the Mekong. And you can then contrast the two countries, which are really quite different. Vietnam is still a communist country so it’s got quite a different feel to it. The other place it combines very nicely with is Yunnan – that’s a fantastic trip from Hanoi up through the rice terraces into China. The other country is northern Laos. You can go into a very remote border crossing right up in the north of Vietnam. So if you do either the north or the south, and then combine it with a neighbouring country, you actually have far more overland travel and fewer flights than if you try to see all of Vietnam. It’s a bit like Europe as you only travel a very short distance to be in another country with a totally different feel."